Selective high call reversal



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SELECT'IVE HIGH CALL REVERSAL Filed July s, 1942 9 Sheets-Sheet 8 Bw; 54W/ lMaly 15, 1945. H. w. WILLIAMS ET AI. I 2,376,218

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fig/7 INVENToRs Patented May 15, 1945 SELEGTIVE HIGH CALL REVERSAL Harold W. Williams, Nuuey, Danilo santini, 'rem aily, and Mark L. Mount, Westfield, NVJ., assignors, by mesne assignments, to Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company,

East

Pittsburgh, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application July 8, 194.2, Serial No. 450,110

Claims. (Cl. IS7- 29) Our invention relates to systems of control for electric elevators and more particularly to such systems as include a number of elevator cars, operating together as a bank, and are controlled by passenger-operated push buttons located at the various floor landings.

Although not limited thereto, our invention is particularly applicable to elevator systems in which the elevator cars are driven at relatively high speeds by variable-voltage or other highspeed motive equipment and are automatically stopped at the floors by automatic landing equipment or equivalent apparatus. Such elevator systems provide a particularly efcient passenger service available for office buildings and other tall structures having a large number of oors and a relatively large volume of passenger traffic.

In suchsystems, in the absence of special `control provisions which will be described, there is a tendency for the various cars to distribute the building traflic unevenly, and, in the taller buildings, for ythe cars to become "bunched and thus prevent reasonable uniformity of spacing between them.

These systems also tend to provide better servby a relatively few stops, perhaps three or four.

Considering a car leaving the upper terminals, such a car is usually required to make these few stops at the upper floors and so passes 'the lower iloors without stopping. Because of the vfrequency with which calls are registered, the next car of the series is also filled to capacity by three or four stops at upper floors and so passes the lower floors without stopping. In rthe operation of these systems, therefore, the response to calls registered from lower floors of the building is delayed until most of the traino from the upper floors has received attention.

In order to provide more uniform Yservice throughout the building during heavy trame peaks, we have devised a selective system for operating the elevators in which a car may be reversed automatically in any part of its shaft travel if conditions exist which require its reversal for the best service. An uptraveling car with passengers should not be reversed until the passengers have been discharged, and a car should not be reversed unless there is suiiicient -demand at the lower oors of the building `to require practically its full capacity. Otherwise the service in some other portion of the building may suffer.

Our system will provide normal service to the entire building as long as the demands on the system are normal. In this normal service each car runs to the highest call before reversing. In the evening when the building is 'being emptied, this highest 'call will usually be a down oor call.

As the demand for service becomes heavier, the upper noors of the building will tend to monopolize it and thelower floors will not receive sufiicient service. When this conduition occurs, the number of calls registered at the lower floors will increase. When these have reached a predetermined number, one of the cars will reverse at thel highest down call occurring in a lower zone which comprises a selected number of the lower doors of the building, and it will serve these lower oors at the expense of the service at the upper floors. By a proper choice of division between upper and lower floors and by requiring certain of the cars to travel to the highest down call of the upper floors by making it incapable of lower zone reversal, a balance can be obtained where all noors will receive substantially equal service.

It is, therefore, an object of our invention to provide a novel elevator system for equalizing the service rendered to the floors, particularly during a period of high service demand.

A further object is to provide means for rendering service to the lower portion of the floors served by a bank of elevators without making an arbitrary division served by certain cars regardless of the requirements.

Another object is to provide a system which will send a car to serve the lower oors, when the service demands it, as quicklyas possible and yet without wasting elevator capacity in doing this, and when it happens that demand for service at the lower floor Zone may arise after the car capable of rendering such service has moved upward out of the lower zone, then that car will reverse at the next down call and at once proceed to the lower zone to relieve the accumulated demand.

Other objects of our invention will become evident from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, of which:

Figure 1 is a diagrammatic representation of an elevator system embodying our invention,

Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic representation of the stationary contact lsegments and the moving brushes on a oor selector for one of the elevator cars embodied in Fig. 1, with the brushes disposed in the position they take when the car is stopped at the third iioor;

Figs. 3, 4, and 6 collectively constitute a diagrammatic representation in straight-line style of the circuit connections for the two-car elevator system illustrated in Fig. 1. The gures should be assembled vertically in numerical order with Fig. 3 at the top.

Figs. 3A to 6A, inclusive, are key representations of the relays in Figs. 3 to 6, inclusive, illustrating the coils and contact members disposed in horizontal alignment with their positions in the straight-line circuits of Figs. 3 to 6. Figs. 3A to 6A should be placed beside the corresponding Figs. 3 to 6 to facilitate the location of the various coils and contacts.

The elevator system illustrated is provided with two cars A and B for serving seven noors. This number of cars and this number of floors have been selected for the purpose of simplifying the disclosure as much as possible, but it is to be understood that the invention may be used for any reasonable number of cars in a bank serving any reasonable number of floors. For example, the invention would be suitabale for an installa-- tion of six cars serving thirty floors.

For the sake of simplicity, the apparatus individual to each car will be given the same reference characters except that the apparatus for car B will be given the prefix B to indicate that it is for car B instead of for car A.

Apparatus individualrto car A Apparatus common toboth cars 'IDR i GDR 5DR 4DR 3DR 2DR EUR SUR 4UR 3UR ZUR Q-quota relay Attention is directed to the fact that some of the features illustrated and described in this application are illustrated, described and claimed in the copending application of E. M. Bouten and Down call-storing relays, common to all cars Up call-storing relays, common to all cars D. Santini, filed July 4, 1942, Serial No. 449,716, and assigned to the Westinghouse Electric Elevator Company.

Apparatus in Fig. 1 of the drawings Referring more particularly to Fig. 1 of the drawings, it will be observed that car A is arranged to be supported Ain a hatchway by a cable ID which passes over a sheave II to a counterweight I2. The sheave I I is mounted for rotation by a shaft I3 driven by a motor I4. A brake I5 of the usual spring-operated, electromagnetically-released type is provided for stopping further rotation of the sheave II when the motor I4 is deenergized.

A floor selector It, of any suitable type, is provided for connecting the various electricaI circuits of the system in accordance With the position of car A. The shaft I3 is extended to operate a brush carriage Il' on the floor selector I6 by mechanically rotating a screw-threaded shaft I8 on which the carriage is mounted. The carriage II is provided with a number of brushes which are disposedy upon movement of the car, to successively engage stationary contacts a1'- ranged in rows on the selector in position to correspond to the floors of the building. For simplicity, only two brushes, 32 and 42, and two rows of contact segments, b2 and g2, etc., disposed to be engaged by them are illustrated in Fig. 1, but it will be understood that in the system t0 be described herein, as Well as in practice, a much larger number of brushes and rows of contact segments is required. Other forms of selectors may be substituted for the selector shown, if desired.

A starting switch CS is mounted in the car to be operated by the attendant to start the car. When the car switch is rotated anticlockwise, it closes its contacts CSI to start the car for the direction for which it is conditioned to operate. When the car switch is centered, it leaves the control system of the car in such condition that the car can be stopped by'operation of hall buttons at the iioor landings or stop buttons in the car. It is to be understood that the car may be operated by the car switch or that any suitable control means may be substituted for the ca r switch. The illustration of the car switch is used for simplicity in describing the system.

The car buttons 2c, etc. (one for each floor) are mounted in the car, so that the attendant may, by operating them, cause the car to stop automatically at any floor. The direction of operation of the car is controlled by relays W and X as will be described in connection with Fig. 3.

The hall buttons are mounted at the floor landings, in order that waiting passengers may cause the cars to stop thereat. An up button and a down button are provided at each noor intermediate the terminals. A down button is disposed at the top terminal and an up button at the bottom terminal. Fig. 1 illustrates only the up hall call button 2U and the down hall call 2D for the second iloor.

In order to automatically effect accurate stopping of car A at the floors in response to operation of the stopping buttons 2C, etc., in the car, or by operation of the hall call buttons 2U, 2D, etc., at the floor, a slow-down inductor relay E and a stopping inductor relay F are mounted on the car in position to cooperate with suitable inductor plates of iron or other magnetic material, mounted in the hatchway adjacent to each iioor. Only the up plates UEP and UFP and the down plates DEP and DFP for the vsecond floor are illustrated. Similar plates are provided for each oor, Iexcept that the top terminal has only up plates and the bottom terminal only down plates.

The inductor relays E and F, when their coils are energized, have normally incomplete magnetic circuits which are successively completed by the inductor plates as the car approaches'a Iloor at which a stop is to be made. These relays are so designed that energization of their operating coils will not produce operation of their contacts until the relay is brought opposite its inductor plate, thereby completing the relay magnetic'circuit. Upon operationof the relay contacts (such as El or E2) they remain in operated condition until the relay operating coil is deenergized, even though the inductor relay moves away ,from the position opposite the inductor plate which completed its magnetic circuits The plates should be so spaced in the hatchway as to provide desirable distances for slowdown and stopping of the cars at the floors. Other methods of controlling slowing down and stopping of the car may be used if so desired.

In the present system, which is given as an example of how the invention may be utilized, the various control circuits are soconnected that the system will operate with a low zone or lower group of floors including the first, second, third, fourth and fth floors and a high zone or high group of floors including the sixth and seventh floors. Floor 'one is considered'as the parking floors The division between the two Azones of floors is determined by making certain wiring connections with a low zone circuit 5I as will be described later in connection with Fig. 5.

The cars and their control apparatus are provided for operation, under normal conditions, as

a high call reversal system in which the cars stop for up calls on their up trips but automatically stop and reverse at the highest down call 'when there is no service required above that highest down call. If the car attendant desires,

va predetermined number.

yEach car has a double throw zoning switch (I9 in car A) by means of which it may be conditioned for operation as a low zone car or for operation as a high zone car.

When switch I9 is in its high-zone car position, its contacts I9a (Fig. 4) in the up stopping circuit are closed so that the car will answer up calls, and its contacts |91) (Fig. 6) are open to prevent operation of its limiting relay Z and its quota-adjusting relay Y. When switch I9 is in its low-zone car position, its contacts I9a are open to prevent the car from answering up floor calls and its contacts I9b are closed to permit operation of the relays Z and Y to make the car a low zone car which will not normally go to the upper terminal; that is, it will answer only down calls in the low zone when they exceed a predetermined number but will go above that zone to answer a down call or down calls when the down calls in the low zone donot exceed that predetermined number. Thus the cars may be divided into two groups as `desired so that the cars selected for the high zone group will run tothe highest iloor call of the upper zone before reversing and may stop for down iloor calls in the'lower zone on down trips and the cars selected for the low zone group may go to the upper zone but will not go to the upper zone and will answer only down calls, in the lower zone, when the conditions require this response. Obviously, low zone cars do not take on up passengers at the lower terminal and do not answer up calls and up passengers must wait for high zone or through trip cars.

In accordance with our invention, a pushbutton switch 21 is provided in car A to permit the attendant to by-pass the calls ahead of his car when it is loaded or whenever the attendant desires' to operate the car straight through. When switch 2l is pressed to by-pass calls, it opens its contacts 21a (Fig. 4) to' prevent the car answering calls and it also opens its contacts 2lb (Fig. 6) to prevent operation of the relays Z and Y in the low-zone system, so that it will not affeet the quota count of calls even if it happens to be a low zone car at the time.

Apparatus in Fig. 2

Fig. 2-illustrates an enlarged view of the floor selector I6 of Fig. 1. In this figure, the various stationary contact segments are represented by rectangles and the contacting brushes by small circles. The brush carriage II is shown by dotted lines in the position it occupies when the associated car is stopped at the third oor.

The contact segments a2 to al on the floor selector are disposed tofbe successively engaged by the brush 30 to control the high car call relay H and by the brush 3I for completing stop circuits set up by the call push buttons in the car for up direction stops. The brush 30 should be long enough to bridge adjacent contact segments.

The contact segments b2 to U6 and the brush 32 are for connecting the circuits of the stop buttons 2U, etc., at the floor landings for up stops. The up contact segments c2 to c1 and the brush 33 are provided for connecting circuits for cancelling stopr calls registered by` the up hall call buttons 2U, etc. The up contact segments dl to dl and the brush 34 connect circuits for the high call relay to be described later. The contact segments e2 to e1 and the brush 40 connect circuits for limiting relays to be described later. The down cancel contact segments f2, etc., and brush 4I, the down oor call contact segments g2, etc., and brush 42, and the down car call -contact segments h2, etc., and brush 43 are provided for connecting circuits for the down direction in the same manner as described for the up direction.

On the right-hand side of the floor selector, a series of switches 52 to 56 are illustrated as disposed to be operated by a cam 49 on the carriage I'I as it moves from its floor to floor position, for thepurpose of controlling a high car call circuit.

Apparatus in Fig; 3

Referring particularly to Fig. 3 of the drawings, it will be observed that control circuits are l shown on the left-hand side which are individual to car A. At the right-hand side, the circuits shown are individual to car B.

AsV shown, the motor I4 is provided with an I armature IIIA which is mechanically connected to the shaft I3 for driving the sheave II. The brake I5 is provided with a winding 20 which is energized on energization of the motor I4. The motor I4 includes the usual shunt-type main field winding I4F, which is connected for energizatlon 'across the supply conductors L-I and L+2. The armature I4A isconnected for energization by a loop circuit 22 to a generator G which is provided `with an armature GA.

In order to control the direction and magnitude of the voltage generated by the generator armature GA, a separately-excited main eld winding GF is provided for the generator G. A eld resistor RI is included in the circuit ofthe field winding GF to provide speed control for the motor I4` The generator G is provided with suitable means such as a series field winding GS for correcting the speed regulation of motor I4.

The master switch CS located in car A is here shown connected to control the energization of the operating windings of an up reversing switch U and a down reversing switch D. The reversing switches U and D are provided with contact membeisfor connecting the generator eld winding GF to the conductors L-I and L-l-I in accordance with the direction in which it is desired to operate the car. When either the up or the down reversing switch U or D is energized, the car running relay M is also energized to condition ce1- tain circuits for operation. The common circuit of the reversing switches U and D and the running relay M includesthe usual safety devices indicated diagrammatically at 23.

A'high-speed relay V is provided for shortcircuiting the resistor RI disposed in series circuit relation with the generator eld winding GF for applying the maximum voltage to that winding when the car is operating at normal high speed. This relay is controlled by the switches U and D on starting and by the slowdown in ductor relay E when stopping.

An upper and a lower mechanica1 limit switch f ycarand performing certain functions in connection therewith. The operating windings of these relays are controlled by a top limit switch 30T, a bottom limit switch 30B and the high-call rever-sal relays. Each of the limit switches 30T and 30B is arranged to be opened when car A arlrivesat the corresponding terminal, thereby interrupting the circuit of the direction preference relay W or X corresponding to the direction of operation of the car. Also when the high call re versal relays operate while the car is between terminals, the `relays W and X are operated to reverse the direction switches. Hence the car attendant does not need to do anything except close or open thecar switch CS and operate the car call buttons.

The energizing coils for the slowdown inductor switch E and the stopping inductor switch F, are illustrated in this figure as arranged to be energized on operation of the contacts S'I of a hall call stopping relay S, the contacts TI of a car vbutton relay T or the contacts J I of a high call Apparatus in Fig. 4

The car buttons 2c, etc., described in connection with Fig. 1, are illustrated with their holding coils 2cc, etc., and circuitn the upper part; of Fig. 4, in connection with the high car call relay H and the stopping relay T. The coils 2cc, etc., are energized when the car starts in either direction to hold in the car buttons 2c, 3c, etc., as they are opera-ted, until the direction of the car is reversed, so that the temporary operation of a car button by the attendant will cause it to remain in operated condition until the car is reversed.

The high car call relay H is used to prevent -relay J (Fig. 6) from reversing the car at the highest registered floor call when a stop call for a floor above is registered on the stop buttons in the car. It is connected by brush 3D to the row of contact segments a2, etc on the oor selector I6, so that it will be energized whenever a stop call is registered on one of the stop buttons in car IA for a floor above the car. The switches 52, 56, inclusive, operated by the cam 49, are shown as disposed in the circuits of the carbuttons to prevent energization of the relay H by operated stop buttons in car A for floors below that car.

The car stopping relay T is connected to the up brush 3I engaging the row of contact segments a2, etc., and to the down brush 43 engaging the row of contact segments h2, etc.; so that, when a call is registered o n a car button and the car approaches the energized contact segment corresponding thereto, relay T will be energized to stop the car by energizing the inductor relays F and E.

The floor buttons 2U, 2D, etc., described in connection with Fig. l are shown with their circuits in the lower part of Fig. 4. Associated with each oor button is a call registering or storing relay by means of which the momentary pressing of the button will set up or register a stop call which will hold itself until it is answered by the stopping of a c ar at that oor for the direction of the registered call. The call registering relays are designated as 2DR to 'IDR for the down direction and as ZUR, SUR and BUR for the up direction. For simplicity, the up direction registering relays and floor buttons for only the second, third and sixth floors are shown, as the up buttons and registering relays for the other floors will be readily understood.

The down call registeringl relays, when energized, close circuits to the row of contact segments g2, etc., and the up registering relays, when energized, close circuits to the row of contact segments b2, etc., on the floor selector so that the contact segment `for a floor for which a call is registered is energized as long as the call exists.

A car stopping relay S is shown as connected to the up.brush 32 engaging segments b2, etc., and the down brush 42 engaging segment g2, etc. When the car approaches a floor in a direction for which a call is registered, the corresponding brush engages the energized contact segment for that floor and that direction and thereby causes the relay S to be energized, which,

in turn, encrgizes the inductor relays `F and E of that car to eifect the stopping of thatcar at that floor.

A cancellation coil is wound in opposition to each call registering coil and connected to the cancellation co-ntact segments on the floor selector. The up cancellation coils are designated as ZURN, etc., connected to the up segments c2, etc., and the down cancellation coils as 2DRN, etc., connected to the down segments f2, etc. As the brush 33 moves over the segments c2, etc., and the brush 4| moves over the segments f2, etc., they energize the cancellation coil for any floor at which the car stops to answer a stop call.

Almparatus in Fig, 5

Fig. 5 embodies the high iloor call relay K, the no call relay KN and the transfer relay TR together with the operating circuits therefor.

The high floor call relay K of car A is provided for controlling the operation of the high call reversing relay J for that car shown in Fig. 6, in accordance with the existence or non-existence of registered floor calls above it, In order to get a reversal of a car at a call, it is necessary to energize its relay K. This relay is connected to the supply conductor L+ 5, through either the normal call indicator circuit 5i! for the high zone* or through thelow zone circuit comprising conductor 5| and its auxiliary conductor 5|a, `depending upon whether relay TR is energized or deenergized. The circuits 5|), 5| and 5Ia are common to all the cars. f

The circuit 50 includes back contacts of the up and the down call registering relays arranged in series relation according to the natural sequence of the oors and it is connected at iloor points with the contact segments dl, d2, etc., through back contacts of the transfer relay TR, Consequently, when the relay TR'is deenergized and car A is traveling on circuit 5|), the relay K for car A will not be energized as long as a call exists at any floor above the floor of the contact segment on which the brush 34 rests, butas soon as the brush reaches a segment with no stored calls above it, a circuit for the relay is completed and it is energized.

The circuit 5| includes back contacts of only the down call registering relays for the floors included in the lower zone and they are arranged in series according to the natural sequence of the floors and the circuit is connected at floor points with the contact segments dl, d2, etc., through the front contacts of the relay TR. Therefore, when the quota relay Q and consequently the relay TR are energized, the relay K l will not be energized as long as a down call exists at a iioor in the loW zone above the car but as soon as the car reaches the uppermost registered down call in the low zone, its relay K Will be energized to effect its reversal,

The circuit 5I and the contacts therein provide a means for dividing the floors into zones. The number of floors included in the low zone is determined by the number of lower floors having their hall call registering relay contacts included in The high zone includes the oors above the low zone. If it is desired to include more floors, in the low zone, then back contacts of the down hall call registering relays for more floors are included in circuit 5|. For instance; if Ait is desired to change the present .system to a low zone of six iioors, this can be efsixth-oor in the low zone circuit 5| (Fig. 5) in a manner similar to the contacts 5DR2 and by eliminating the contacts 6DR2 and BDRB from the circuit 5|a, so that the low zone cars will reverse in response to a predetermined number of down hall calls at the lower six lloors instead of the lower five floors.

In accordance with our invention, the auxiliary circuit 5 la is a branch of circuit 5| andit includes back contacts for the down call registering devices (such as BDRZ) for the floors above the low zone. When car A is a low zone carand is transferred to circuits 5| and 5|a by the quota device, the relay K will not be energized when car A is in the upper zone as long as a down call exists above it.

When a low zone car leaves the lower terminal on a trip, it starts up on the normal call indicator circuit 50. However, if a sufficient number of down calls are registered in the low zone to operate the quota device, that device causes oper.. ation of the transfer relay TR which, in turn, transfers that car from the normal circuit to the low zone circuit 5| and its branch circuit 5|a, so that that low zone car will stop at the highest down call in the low zone, or at the lowest down call in the upper zone, or at the next floor in the upper zone, depending upon the position of the car in the hatchway, at the `time the quota is filled.

In practicing our invention, we have provided the no-call relay KN for preventing the car from being reversed at the second floor and for causing the car to run straight through to the upper terminal when there are no registered calls above it in the system, The relay KN causes this effect because its coil is included in the lower end of the normal circuit 50 so that when that circuit is closed because no calls are registered, the relay KN is energized to open its contacts KN| in the circuit of the high call reversal relay J (Fig. 6) and thus prevent that relay from causing reversal of the car in response to relay K becoming energized. Without this relay KN, a car leaving the lower terminal on schedule when no calls are registered, would reverse at the second floor and return to the lower terminal without completing its up trip. i l

The transfer relay TR is provided for transferring the relay K from control by the normal circuit 5U to control by the low zone circuits 5| and 5|a when the car is a low zone car, the quota relay has beeny energized and the car is moving upwardly. The reversal of the car will be effected in the low zone or in the upper zone, depending upon the position of the up moving car at the time the quota is lled. Conversely, when the quota ceases to exist, the relay TR returns relay K to the control of the normal circuit 50. The relay TR effects this result because it is controlled by the up direction relay W (Fig. 3) and the relay Y (Fig. 6) which, in turn, is controlled by the quota relay Q (Fig. 6).

Apparatus in Fig. 6

Fig. illustrates the circuitsfor the high call reversing relay J, the limiting relay Z, and the quota-adjusting relay Y for each of the cars, together with the quota relay Q which is common to all the cars.

The high call reversing relay J is provided for so preparing the circuits of car A that it will reverse its direction of operation at the floor corresponding to the highest registered down call in the high zone when it is a high zone car and in the low zone or high zone when it is a low zone car. It stops the car by closing-itsfcontacts 'JI in the circuit of the inductor relays and F (Fig. 3) and it then reverses the stopped car by opening its contacts J2 in the circuit of 4theA up direction preference relayW (Fig. 3). f

The quota relay Q is provided for totalizing the down calls in the low zone.4 It is common to all the cars and its energized operation is effected by a predetermined number of calls being in existence and the number of low zone cars moving up in the low zone. n

The energization ofthe quota relay is controlled by a plurality of branch circuits, each of which includes a quota resistor, suchlas R2, and which are controlled by contacts operated by the down floor call relays, such as 4DR, in the low zone, and by a plurality of branch circuits each of which includes a resistor such as R5 and which are controlled by contacts operated by the limit relay Z and the quota adjusting relay Y. The quota relay and the resistors together with their connections are so designed that the relay will be responsive not only to the number of registered down calls that exist in the low zone, but also to the number of low zone carsthat are traveling in the up direction. 4

For example, if car A is conditioned as a low zone car and is going up, its relay Z will be ener- -glzed after the car passes the first few floors (derelay Q will still remain unoperated because sufli- 'i cient current will not ow through the one `resistor to actuate relay Q. As soon as twodown calls in the low zone are registered, sufficient current will now through the two resistors,v in parallel to actuate relay Q. The resistors and relay Q are normally'` designed to operate relay Q whenever two down calls nthe low zone exist and only one low zone car is going 11D; to require two more calls for a second car entering the low Zone after-,the ilrst car has been selected and is still in the low zone, and to require four more calls to operate for a third car entering the low zone after the first two cars have been selected and areV still in the low zone, in an installation including more low zone iloors than can be shown in the drawings. This is effected because operation vof the quota relay operates a Y relay and the additional cars operate their Z relays to add additional circuits in parallel with the relay Q.

The limiting relay Z is provided to render the quota relay effective and also in accordance with our invention, in conjunction with detached e segments, to limit the lowest licor at whichl a reversal can be made by a low zone car in response to the operation of quota relayQ. V,Ithas been found that conditions arise occasionally which would reverse a low zone car at the third oor. Under these conditions, only one 4additional down lstop, is permitted, namely, at the second iloor, and the car will return to the first floor` with probably not over four passengers. As such operation is undesirable, we prevent it by disconnecting the feed wires between the circuit 2 I` and the segments e2 and e3, under which condition relay Z cannot be energized until the fourth floor is zone in this illustration and description of the invention, it'will be understood that it is difficult to satisfactorily illustrate the operation of seg ments e and the relay Z but it is believed that we have given sufficient information to enable any one skilled in the elevator art to easily construct and install a satisfactory control circuit embodying these features.

The quota-adjusting relay Y is provided for so controlling the branch circuits of the relay Q as to energize that relay in accordance with vthe number of low zone cars in the low zone and the number of down floor calls registered in the low zone. The relay Y is prepared for action only when the car is conditioned for operation as a low zone car by the closing of contacts I9b and after that it is energized whenthe quota relay is energized. When energized, relay Y closes its self-holding circuit and remains energized un; til its car returns to the parking floor and opens its cam switch 25.

With this construction, it will be apparent that, when one car enters the low zone and `gets its quota of two calls, if a second car enters the low zone thereafter while the rst car is still there, a larger number of down calls must be registered in the low zone before the second car will be reversed. For instance, if car A gets its quota and its Y relay is energized, that relay closes contacts Y2 thereby inserting resistor R5 in parallel with the relay Q so that four down calls must now be registered in the down zone before relay Q will receive enough energy to energize itand effect the reversal of the second car. If two cars are in the lower zone when two or three low zone down calls are registered, the quickest acting relay will be energized and its car will be reversed and the other car will not be reversed until four low zone down calls are registered.

It is believed that the invention may be better understood by assuming an operation of the apparatus and circuits described.

Operation as high enne car The irst operation assumedwill be that of cars A and B as normal high call reversal cars standing at the lower terminal with the doors (not shown) closed and with no stop calls regis tered. Under these conditions, the door relay DR, the up direction preference relay W, the no floor call relay KN and the high floor call relay K of car A are in energized condition. The door relay DR is energized because all the doors are closed, thus completing the circuit: L-l-l, door contacts, DR, L-l. |The relay W is energized because the bottom terminal switch 30B is open thus deenergizing relay X which closes its back contact X2. The circuit for relay W extends: L-H, D6, X2, J2, W, 30T, L-I. The relay KN is energized by the circuit in Fig, 5 because no stop calls are registered and all the back contacts in circuit 50 are closed. The relay K is energized because no calls are registered to affect the circuit 50.

Car A is conditioned as a high zone car because its switch I9 has its contacts lila, closedand its contacts lh open. Car A will now operate on circuit 5G (Fig. 5) but not on circuits 5| or Sla.

With. the door closed, the car attendant in car A closes the car switch CS temporarily to start the car upwardly by energizing the up direction switch U and the car running relay M through the following circuit:

L-l-I. CS. CSI, WI, Fl, STU, U, M, 23, L-L

The energized relay M closes its contactsfMI,

M2 and M3 and opens its contacts M4 to prepare the control system of car A for operation.

The energized up direction switch U closes its contacts UI, U2, U3, U4 and U5 and opens its contacts U6 to start the car upwardly. The

The closing of the contacts U4 energizes the high speed relay V by the circuit L-l-I, U4, VTU, EI, V, L-I. The energized relay V closes its contacts VI thereby shorting the resistor RI in the circuit of the generator eld winding GF,

thus increasing the energization of the iield winding GF to cause the motor I4 to move the car upwardly at its normal high speed.

The relay KN is energized because no registered calls exist and it therefore keeps open its contactsvKNI in the circuit of relay J (Fig. 6) thereby preventing car A from reversing at the next floor when no calls exist for it. Therefore, car A will run through to the top terminal unless some stop calls are registered for floors above it.

It will be assumed now that a waiting down passenger at the sixth floor operates the down call button 6D to register a down stop call for that floor. The operation of button 6D energizes the relay GDR by the circuit L-{3, 6D, SDR, 60, 6I, L-3. The energized relay GDR closes its contacts SDRI in its self holding circuit. It also supplies energy to the contact segment g6 to stop the next approaching car which is conditioned to serve it. The operated relay GDR also opens its contacts BDRS in the high call circuit 50 thereby deenergizing the high floor call relay K and the no floor call relay KN. The deenergized relay K opens its contacts KI and the relay KN closes its contacts KNI in the circuit of the high call reversal relay J.

It will be assumed that car A moves upwardly in the hatchway on its up trip with no call registeredabove it except the down call at the sixth iloor. As it approaches the sixth iloor, its brush 34 engages the energized contact segment d6 and thereby energizes the high oor call relay K by the circuit:

L+s, mns, sURz, 'm2, as, 34, K, AL-s.

The energized relay K closes its contacts KI and thereby energizes the high call reversing relay J by the circuit:

n+1, J, Hl, Kl', wa, KNI, L-i.

. resistor RI in the circuit of the generator iield winding GF thereby decreasing the speed of the hoisting motor I4 and thus slowing down the car. As the car approaches still closer to the sixth door, itsk stopping relay Fcomes opposite the up stopping plate UFP for that iloor which opens its contacts FI, thereby deenergizing the car running relay M and the-up direction switch U. The switch U opens its contacts UI in the brake circuit and opens its contacts U2 and U3 in the circuit of the generator eld winding GF, thus stopping the car and applyingthe brake to hold it at the sixth floor.

At the same time the contacts J2 of the energized high call reversing relay J are open in one of the parallel circuits of the up direction preference relay W. Therefore, when the contacts M2 of the car running relay M are opened for the sixth' floor stop, they open the other parallel circuit for the relay W and thus deenergize it. The deenergized relay W thereupon closes its back contacts W2 which energizes the down preference relay X by the circuit L+ I, U6, W2, X, 30B., LI. The deenergized relay W also opens its contacts WI in the circuit of the up direction switch U and the down preference relay X closes its contacts XI in the circuit of the down direction switch D. This prepares the car for down operation and when the attendant closes the starting switch CS, the car will ystart downwardly.

Assuming now that the attendant closes'the car switch CS he thereby energizes thev down direction switch D and the car running relay M by the circuit L+ I, CS, CSI` XI, F2, STD, D, M, 23, L I. The energized switch D and the relay M cause the car to move downwardly to the first oor where the arrival of the car opens the lower limit switch STD to decnergize the down direction switch D. y

Also, as the car reaches the first floor, it opens its bottom terminal switch 30B to deenergize the down preference relay X which, in turn, closes its back contacts X2 to energize the up direction preference relay W to condition .the car for up direction operation. l

It is seen by the foregoing description how a normal car operates on an up trip to reverse itself at the highest down call when there are no up calls above it to be answered.

Operation of low zone car in imo zone involving limit relay It will be assumed now` in practicing our invention, that the cars A and B are to be conditioned for operation a5 low zone ears. This is done by moving the switch I9 in car A and the switch BI9 in car B to the right. The movement of the switch I9 opens its contacts |901J and closes its contacts ISD. The opening of the con tacts I9a disconnects the up stop brush 32 from the stopping relay S s o that car A will not respond to any registered up call stops. The closing of the contacts I9b prepares the limit relay Z, the limit circuit 2l and the'quota adjusting relay Y for operation. 'The control apparatus of car A isl now conditioned toY operate it as a low zone car. The opening oi the contacts BI9a` and the closing of the contacts BISb condition the circuits of car B to cause it to operate'as a vlow zone car. Both cars now operate on circuits 58, 5I and 5Ia. As long as the quo-ta relay is not ,operated the cars operate on circuit 50 but when the quota relay Q is operated. ittransfers the iii-st up moving low zone car from circuit 50 to circuits 5I and 5Ia.

It will be assumed now that cars A and B are standing at the lower terminal ready `for opera.

tion as low` zone cars. Under these circumcontacts 'IDRI and thereby energizes the down contact segment g1 and also opens contacts 'IDR3 in circuit 50 and IDR2 in circuit 5Ia.

The operation of the button 6D for the down call at the sixth floor energizes the relay EDR by the circuit previously described. The energized relay SDR closes its contacts BDRI to complete its self-holding circuit while it energizes contact segment c6 and also opens its contacts EDRE in normal circuitl 50 and closes contacts 6DR3 between circuits 5I and 5Ia.

`The pressing of the down button 2D at the second floor energizes the call registering relay 2DR as previously described for energizing the contact segment g2 and for opening the circuits 50 and 5 I.

It will be assumed now that both cars A and B are at the lower terminal and that they have been conditioned by operation of their switches I9 and BI9 to operate as low zone cars.l With car A at the first floor, its up direction preference relay W is energized and, assuming that its door is closed and that the attendant closes the car switch CS, then the car starts on an up trip as previously described. Inasrnuch as only one down call (second oor) is now registered in the low zone, the quota relay Q is not operated.

v After car A passes out of the low zone by leaving the iifth iioor and approaching the sixth licor', awaiting passenger at the third door presses the down button 3D and thereby energizesthe down ,relay'3DR to register a down stop call `at that iioor. 'The relay 3DR closes its self-holding contacts '3DRI and energizes the down contact segment g3 and opens its contacts in the circuits 50 and 5I and closes its contacts in the circuit of the quota relay Q.

Inasmuch as down calls now exist at the second and third iloor in the low zone, the quota for the quota relay Q is completed and, inasmuch as the car is above the third floor, the quota relay is energized because sufficient current is flowing through the two parallel resistors R2 and R3 by the closed contacts 2DR4 and 3DR1I to en ergize it. It will be obviousthat the contacts ZI are-closed because relay 'Z is lenergizedby reason of the V'fact that car A is vabove the third floor with its brush 40 bridging the contact segments e5 "and e6. The `energized `relay Q closes its contacts lQI and Q2 thereby energizing Athe quota adjusting relay Y for car A and 'preparing the circuit of relay -BY of -car B to be energized. Ina'smuc'h as car B has not yet yleft the lower terminal, its relay BY remains unenergzed. The energized relay Y, as previously described, closes its self-holding contacts Y, `opens its contacts Y3 to deenergize the quota relay -Q `and closes `its contacts .YI to energize lthe transfer relay TR for car A.

The energized relay TR opens its back .contacts TR`I2, etc., and closes its front contacts TRI I, etc., to transfer the control of relay K of car A from the normal call circuitiED to the special call indicatorcircuit 5I so that the relay K will effect the stopping land lreversing of car A at the lowest down callin the high zone.

:As car A moves on upwardly, its brush 34 engages the energized contact segment d6 and thereby lenergizes relay K -to cause the stopping and reversal of vcar Aat the lowest `down call in the upper zone, which is `atithe sixth floor, there being .a -down call above that :at the seventh floor which the low zone car will not now answer. The circuit for the high-floor callrelay K extends:

The energized relay K closes its contacts KI (Fig. 6) and thereby energizes the high call reversing relay J of car A by the circuit previously described. The relay J, in turn, closes its contacts J I in the circuit of the slowdown inductor relay E and the inductor holding relay G, there by energizing those relays to effect the slowing down and stopping of car A at the sixth floor, as previously described. The energized relay J also opens its contacts J2, and, inasmuch as the car running relay M has opened its contacts M2 in the parallel circuitl for up direction preference relay W, that relay is deenergized and thereupon closes its back contacts W2 in the circuit for the down direction preference relay X. The deenergized relay W opens its contacts WI in the circuit of the up direction switch U, and the down direction preference relay X closes its contacts XI in the circuit of the down direction switch D (Fig. 3) so that the next closing operation of the car switch CS will cause car A to move downwardly.

It will be assumed now lthat the attendant temporarily closes the car switch CS and that car A moves downwardly. As car A approaches vthe third floor, its brush 42 engages vthe energized down contact segment g3 for the third floor and thereby completes a circuit for energizing the stopping relay S which closes its contacts SI to energize the inductor relays to effect ythe stopping of the car, as previously described. vCar A is now stopped at the third floor and takes onl the waiting passengers.

It will be assumed now that car A has taken on all the passengers it can carry and that the car attendant presses the by-pass button '21 thereby opening its contacts 21a toprevent-energization of the stopping relay S and also vopening its contacts .2lb to deenergize the relays Z and Y of car A. The deenergization of relays Y and Z opens contacts Y2 and ZI in the circuit .of relay Q so that the means for preventing reversal of the next entering low zone car while car .A is still there will be rendered ineffective and the next low zone car `will be reversed when two down calls .stand registered vin the low zone. .As the car .attendant `'closes the car switch CS temporarly, car .A starts downto the lower terminal and by-.passes the Adown call at ,the second iloor, because its stopping vrelay S has been rendered ineffective by the ,operation of the bypass button 21.

By the operation just assumed, itis seen `that a low zone car which passes Aout of the low zone because ofthe small number of .down calls registered in that zone at that time, will, i-f additional down calls are registered in the low zone while the car is moving upwardly, be stopped and reversed at the lowest down call in the upper zone.

It lwill also be seen by the foregoing operation that when a low zone car gets the quota of, say, two calls, it closes its relay Y front contacts and opens its relay Y back contacts in the quota relay circuitso vas to insert additional resistors, such as R5 or R6 in the circuit around relay Q so that if another low zone car starts up while the iirst one is operating,qsufcient resistors lwill be in parallel with the `quota relay Q to require the registration of four down calls in `the low zone While two low zone .cars are operating in order to again operate the quota ,relay Q to cause the reversal of the second low zone'car.

Any low `zone car `leaving `the low zone without quota will operate .on the highfcall reversal circuit 50, because its `transfer relay TR is not energized. However, if the highest registered call above it is an up call, the low zone car will not stop there but will go one floor beyond it and then stop and reverse, answering any down calls it meets on its down operation. It will not answer the up call while moving up, because its up brush 32 is disconnected by the open contacts I9a of the zone selecting switch I9.

It will also .be apparent that any low zone car which enters the upper zone and gets its quota while it is in the upper zone without any calls being registered above it will stop and reverse at the next floor and thus return to answer the down calls in the low zone.

It also will be apparent from the foregoing description and assumed operations that We have provided a flexible control system whereby part of the cars in a bank of elevators can be operated as high call reversal cars and the other part of the cars can be operated as low zone cars, but that the low zone cars will leave the low zone and move into the high zone if they do not have at least a predetermined number o f down calls to answer in the low zone,` and, if a quota of down calls accumulates in the low zone while the car is in the high zone, it will stop at the lowest down call in the high zone, or if no calls exist in the high zone, it will stop at the neXt floor, reverse and return to answer the down calls. This is a novel result as it makes the system very flexible and does not limit the cars to only certain floors for operation but causes them to so act normally that the one group serves the upper floors and the other group serves the lower floors but that either group may help out the other group and not 'be limited only to one zone of operation.

Although we have illustrated and described only one speoiiic embodiment of our invention, it is to be understood that modifications thereof and changes therein may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

We claim as our invention:

1. A control system for an elevator car operable in a hoistway past a plurality of oors, means for starting and running said car, call means at each of said iloors for stopping said car on its down motion at the associated oor, additional means responsive to said last-mentioned means when said car is on its up motion for preventing said car from running past the highest floor for which a call means is operated, and means responsive to no call means at any lloor being in operated condition for rendering ineffective said additional means, whereby said car can run up said hoistway regardless of the fact that there is no high call to be answered.

2. An elevator system comprising a plurality of cars serving a plurality of oors, an operating means for each car, an up call device and a down call device for each intermediate floor for causing the operating means of the cars to stop them thereat when they are in condition to make such stops, means responsive to the operation of call devices. at floors above an up moving car for causing its operating means to stop it and reverse it when it arrives at the highest operated call device when that call device is a down call device, and means associated with each car forrendering the high call reversal means ineiective when that car starts on an up trip with no call devices in operated condition.

3. An elevator system comprising a plurality of carsserving a plurality of floors, an operating means for each car, an up call device and a down call device for each intermediate floor for causing the operating means of the cars to stop them thereat when they are in condition to make such stops, a' high call reversal means for each car controlled by the operation of the call devices for causing that vcar to stop and reverse its direction of operation when it starts with operated call devices and arrives at a point where there are no operated call devices above it, and means associated with each car for rendering the high call reversal means associated with that car ineffective when that car starts from the lower terminal with no operated call devices above it.

4. In an elevator control system for a plurality of cars serving a plurality of floors, including an upper terminal floor, a lower terminal floor and intermediate floors, means for dividing the floors into zones including a low zone and a high zone, means for conditioning some of the cars for operation as low zone cars and others for operation as high zone oars, an operating means for each car, an up stop call device and a down stop call device at each of the intermediate floors, means responsive to a predetermined number of operated down call devices for floors in the low zone being in operated condition for causing the operating means for an up running low zone car to stop and reverse its direction of operation to answer the highest operated down call device in the lo-w zone, and means responsive to said car being in the high zone when said predetermined number of down call devices are operated in the low zone for stopping it at the lowest operated down call device in the high zone.

5. In an elevator control system for a plurality of cars serving a plurality of floors, including an upper terminal floor, a lower terminal floor and intermediatefioors, means for dividing the floors into zones including a low zone and a high zone, means for selectively conditioning the cars for low zone operation or for high zone operation, an operating means -for each car, an up stop call device and a down stop call device at each intermediate floor, and means responsive to operation of a predetermined number of down call devices in the low zone of floors when an up moving low zone car is in the upper zone of floors for causing the operating means of that car to stop it and lreverse its direction of operation to cause it to return to serve the Operated down stop devices in the low zone of iioors.

6. An elevator system comprising a plurality of cars for serving a plurality of floors divided into groups including an upper group and a lower group, control means for each car for starting, running and stopping that car, means for selectively conditioning the cars for low zone or high zone operation, an up call device and a down call device for each floor for registering stop calls for the cars at that oor, said call devices being common to all the cars, a reversing means associated with each car operable on up motion of that car to normally cause its control means to stop it at the highest floor in the upper group having a call device in operated condition, means responsive to a predetermined number of down call devices in operated condition for floors in the lower group for rendering eil'ective the reversing means of a low zone car in said lower group to cause its control means to stop it and reverse its motion to answer the highest floor in the lower group having a down call device in operated condition, and, in the event that said car has moved upward out of said lower group, to stop said car and reverse it at the next floor above it having 

